Review Summary: Adelitas Way get around.
The commercial underperformance of
Stuck was a testament to the short shelf life that certain mainstream rock bands can have. Not all acts can maintain large amounts of success over a long period of time, and Adelitas Way’s luck ran out in 2014 despite appearing at first to be a future radio juggernaut. Not one to be quickly defeated, the Las Vegas-based post-grunge band quickly announced a stopgap EP and a fourth studio album, both with first-half 2015 release dates.
Stuck was notable in the sense that it contained the least amount of cringeworthy moments on an Adelitas Way album yet.
Deserve This contains some material that actually would have fit pretty well on the record, and some of it’s not half bad. While the instrumentation is still neither special nor original, it’s not the selling point of this EP. All Adelitas Way does is make simple, generic post-grunge, and the quality is the only thing that varies. Lead single “I Get Around” is just a fun rock song with plenty of spark, a catchy, albeit repetitive, chorus and a good vocal performance. When DeJesus sings with some sort of passion, the hook is memorable and the energy is there, the band has found their winning formula.
Adelitas Way still revert back to their old selves at points; the nearly six-minute “Filthy Heart” is an exercise in futility, while “Sometimes You’re Meant to Get Used” is just brash and obnoxious. Lyrically, they still need improvement (was “I get around like you do” the best insult they could come up with?), and their general sound remains generic in all its way. Overall, though, the
Deserve This EP sees Adelitas Way slowly becoming more tolerable with each new release. It's ten times better than the new Three Days Grace album, that's for sure.
